


As Seen In Old Movies

by I_can_only_imagine



Series: JayKyle Week 2020 [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Green Lantern (Comics)
Genre: Black Lantern Jason Todd, Crushes, Day 1: Lantern!Jason, Discord: JayKyle Week 2020, First Meetings, Future White Lantern Kyle Rayner, Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, Hal Jordan is a Good Step Parent, Implied Hal Jordan/Bruce Wayne, JayKyle Week 2020, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:07:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26823397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_can_only_imagine/pseuds/I_can_only_imagine
Summary: Jason is apprehensive when it comes to the new Green Lantern his stepfather will be training. That is, until deep green eyes meet his and he realizes he's already lost.
Relationships: Kyle Rayner/Jason Todd
Series: JayKyle Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1956478
Comments: 6
Kudos: 176





	As Seen In Old Movies

**Author's Note:**

> My entry for JayKyle Week 2020 day 1: Lantern!Jason  
> This is going to be the second fic in a series I've been working on. The first one is no where near finished though, so for background Jason was found early by Bruce at eight years old and died at twelve. When Jason is brought back by Super Boy Prime the Black Lantern ring chooses him and ever since the guardians have been keeping a close eye on him to make sure he doesn't become like William Hand from another universe they had gotten a peak into. Also Bruce and Hal got married when Jason was sixteen.

“Stop pouting,” Carol said without pulling her eyes away from her book.

“I’m not pouting,” Jason mumbled.

“Your ring is leaking,” Guy said. Jason didn’t look away from the window when he wacked his parental figure, but he did take note of the inky substance running along his ring finger.

“I’m not pouting,” he repeated.

“Maybe not, but you are upset,” Guy said. “It’s going to be okay.”

“I know.”

Guy’s arm wrapped around his shoulder but Jason still didn’t look away from the window. He leaned into Guy’s side though, and allowed his ring to construct his usual black hood over his head.

When Guy pressed a kiss to the top of the hood, Jason relaxed a bit against him and sighed. Violet. It hadn’t changed. But that was Guy. Guy hadn’t met the new kid yet. It would probably change when he did.

“Hey, look at me,” Guy said, and Jason closed his eyes to curse to himself in his head. Sometimes he wondered if Guy was psychic. When he was sure he wasn’t going to freak out, he turned his head to peek at Guy from the corner of his eye. He could see Carol in his peripheral too this way. Could see the way she had looked up from her book and was now carefully watching him.

Guy reached out slowly, broadcasting his motions and intentions before he cupped Jason’s cheek and turned his head to fully face him.

“What do you see?” Guy asked.

Jason hesitated. Looking with his own eyes got overwhelming, even if it was the most reliable source. He preferred using his constructs to receive information about the auras of the things that touched them, but they were prone to fault. A touch to the same constructs by another thing would mix up the information, muddle the results. The guardians said it happened like that because Jason was still young, still not in control.

He relented and did as Guy had asked, blinking rapidly as a mix of violet and green filled his vision.

“Will and love,” Jason answered Guy’s question and ducked his head back down.

The couch dipped beside him and Carol’s arms were wrapping around him. Two pairs of arms around him, both lighting up violet in his senses. It was okay. They were okay.

“Can you take off your hood?” Carol asked.

Jason nodded and the black hood dissolved back into his ring, leaving him in just his t-shirt and jeans again.

“Your dad won't stop loving you, or thinking you're special, just because he’s helping train a new kid,” Guy promised.

“You don’t know that,” Jason mumbled, snuggling in closer. “You didn’t hear him telling John about the damn kid. He’s some prodigy. The guardians think he might be the White Lantern they’ve been waiting for.”

“Being the Black Lantern is a lot cooler than being the White Lantern,” Carol said.

“No it’s not. Being Black Lantern means everyone is afraid of me and what I can do. The White Lantern is supposed to kill me.”

“Hey,” Carol cupped his face the same way Guy had, a grave seriousness taking over in her voice. “No one is killing you on our watch.”

Jason didn’t say anything. Didn’t really have the chance to as the door to the room swung open and Hal announced his usual “Honey I’m home!” that he did any time he got back to Oa or the manor.

All thoughts of the White Lantern and the new kid were put out of his mind at the sound of his step father’s voice as Jason shot up from the couch. He was across the room in seconds, throwing himself into Hal’s arms while Hal stumbled back and laughed.

“Miss me much?” Hal asked.

“You were gone for so long,” Jason mumbled into his chest. He nuzzled his face into the white t-shirt that somehow still smelt like the laundry detergent Alfred used and let himself really relax for the first time in weeks.

Hal fingers thread into Jason’s hair and he leaned into the touch. He loved Guy and Carol of course, and John was the coolest uncle in the world, but nothing was quite like being with Hal or Bruce.

“You didn't get into too much trouble?” Hal asked, but his voice was soft.

“He was challenged to a spar by one of the other lanterns,” Guy said. “New guy, thought he was tough shit, thought he could take Jay down alone.”

“How long did he last?” Hal asked, sounding much more amused than he should as a parent being told his kid got into a fight.

“A good thirty seconds,” Carol said. “Jason’s vision was spotted with purple for an hour after seeing so much yellow.”

“That’s my boy,” Hal laughed. He ruffled his hair and finally pulled back. 

“Kyle, get in here,” he called back into the hallway.

After a second, a boy with black hair walked in with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He was in civics, though he looked uncomfortable with the situation, and his head was bowed a little to let his hair fall in his face.

“Everyone, this is the newest Green lantern, Kyle Rayner,” Hal introduced. “Kyle, if you would look up, the red head over there is Guy, the lovely lady beside him is Carol, and this short stack is my step son I told you all about, Jason.”

Kyle didn’t look up but he did mumble a greetings to all of them. Jason looked up at his father again and furrowed his eyebrows. Why had Hal told this kid about him?

“He’s around your age,” Hal explained. “About two or three years older than you.”

“Is it two or three?” Jason quipped. “Because that determines if he’s really around my age or if he’s actually around Dick’s age and you’re just desperate for me to make friends under thirty years old.”

“Jason thinks he’s a comedian,” Hal said to Kyle.

“I think he’s funny,” Guy said.

“Of course you do,” Hal said without looking away from Kyle.

Silence fell over the room for a while and Jason found himself desperately wanting to retreat to his room to read. He didn’t want to meet the new lantern who he still didn’t know was around his or Dick’s age, or listen to his father gush about the guy’s natural talent. He wanted to be anywhere but here-

Never mind. Here was good.

Dark green eyes were staring into his and he swore he was lost. His breath was held in his chest and he didn’t think he could breathe again until those eyes gave him permission to do so. It was like drowning on land.

“It’s nice to meet you,” the heavenly voice that matched those eyes said. “Hal has told me a lot about you.”

“Nice to meet you,” Jason whispered. He didn’t think he could talk louder than that. If he did, he was sure his voice would break and crack in a way he could never live down.

“Jason, I was wondering if you could show Kyle around Oa while us adults talk,” Hal recaught Jason’s attention.

When he turned to look at his stepfather he felt his face flush dark. Hal wore a knowing smirk that only ever caused trouble.

“But-”

“But what?”

Jason honestly didn’t know. Any other day he would be able to come up with a myriad of excuses as to why he wasn’t the right person to give Kyle a tour, but just then his mind was drawing a blank.

“You should get that tour started if we all want dinner on time,” Hal said.

Jason looked helplessly to Carol and Guy for help, only to find them with similar expressions to Hal. He decided then and there that he would find a way to get revenge for all the embarrassment this would surely cause him and make his parents’ lives a living hell for at least a month. A month was a reasonable amount of time for trying to sabotage his sanity and love life, right?

“Yeah, sure,” Jason mumbled, fighting the temptation to create his hood again.

A wisp of violet danced in the corner of his eye and Jason whipped his head to follow it, but it disappeared the moment his eyes landed on Kyle. He wrote it off as one of his parents experiencing a random burst of emotion.

“Come on,” Jason said, shouldering past Kyle to the door. When their arms touched he was sure he saw another wisp of violet, but it was gone too soon for him to find the source of.

Their walk outside of the Earth living quarters was silent, and most of the tour even was spent in awkward explanations of where and what everything was. By the end of it, Jason was sure his fumbling and quiet explanations ruined any chance at Kyle looking at him as more than his mentor’s bumbling son, and he didn’t understand why that made him so upset. It wasn’t like he would work with Kyle. He never worked with people his age.

He tried to remember the last time he had worked with someone even relatively near his age and came up with blanks. It was rare the Guardians let him out of their sight. When he wasn’t training and going on carefully monitored missions with Hal, Guy, John or Carol he was at home. Weather home was the sector housing or Wayne manor depended on if Hal was on leave or not. The few times he worked outside the Guardians' jurisdiction, was with the Justice League, and that was only for world ending level events where he usually had to go all out with his powers and was left exhausted for days afterwards.

If he was like that with people older than him, maybe it was just safer for him to not work with people his age.

“I’m sorry, I don’t want to seem rude but, you are the Black Lantern, right?” Kyle asked, pulling Jason back into the moment. They were only a few minutes away from getting back to the sector housing, but Kyle had stopped.

Jason sighed and turned to look at him. This point in meeting any new lanterns always came. The point where they stopped trusting him and started fearing him.

“Yeah, I am.”

“When did you find out?” Kyle asked. “Like, when did you get your ring?”

“We don’t really know how old I was,” he shrugged one shoulder. “With me… dying and all…”

Kyle’s face went red, “I’m so sorry! That was rude, I shouldn’t have-”

“No, It’s okay,” Jason said. “I um. I died when I was twelve. You’re from earth, so I assume you’ve heard of the Joker. He killed me.”

“You’re from Gotham then?”

Jason couldn’t help but let out a laugh. The wisp was there again for just a second longer, but disappeared like the other times. His eyes had to be playing tricks on him.

“Sorry,” Jason said after he finished laughing. “I just thought you said Hal told you a lot about me.”

“I guess he left out some parts,” Kyle grumbled. “He told me you liked books. And theater. And cooking. Just stuff like that.”

“That’s a start,” Jason nodded. “Yeah, I’m from Gotham. Park Row born and raised, though I did get adopted by Bruce Wayne and spent a good four years in Bristol.”

“I don’t know what any of that means,” Kyle admitted. “I’m from California.”

“Sunshine state,” Jason hummed.

“Gloom City,” Kyle grinned. Jason’s heart stopped. God he was lucky he was the only one who could see auras, because he did not want Kyle seeing what that grin made him feel.

“Well anyways,” Jason ducked his head. “We don’t know how long I was dead or when I came back. So we don’t really know how old I am. We just assume I was twelve. So I got my ring when I was twelve.”

“Twelve,” Kyle said. “That’s so young.”

“Says the youngest Green Lantern,” Jason pointed out.

“There’s a big difference between being the youngest Green Lantern at twenty and being the only Black Lantern at twelve.”

“And eighteen. Still the only one.”

“Eighteen by your guess.”

“Was that supposed to be a joke?” Jason asked, a slow grin growing on his lips. “Are you teasing me Rayner?”

“No I didn’t mean it like-” Kyle cut off his apology when he saw Jason’s expression, and that wisp of violet showed up again. It was small, and he really had to focus to see it, but the wisp didn’t disappear that time. It lingered on the edges of Kyle’s silhouette. Jason’s grin disappeared for a shy, understanding smile.

“We should be getting back,” Jason said.

“Yeah.”

Kyle started to walk again, but Jason caught his arm when he nearly passed him. Without a word, he pushed up onto his tip toes and placed a chaste kiss to Kyle’s cheek. It was barely a brush of lips on skin, but it was enough for the violet to swell for a moment before going back down.

“You know Rayner, you’re not as bad as I thought you’d be,” Jason whispered.

Before Kyle could react, Jason turned back to the direction they were heading in. After a few seconds he heard Kyle’s stuttering footsteps struggle to keep up with him, and grinned again.

Maybe having someone his age around would be fun.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos give me life, so if you liked the story feel free to leave some!  
> Come find me over on Tumblr @what-if-i-imagine where my asks, prompts and requests are always open!


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